Reference | Public libraries | Information seeking
For librarians, reference work today is increasingly about community service
Sep 14, 2018
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Then Came Google...
In
the late 1990s, as internet search engines were becoming more powerful
and Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin were creating
Google, that powerful feeling librarians once had at the reference desk
began to dim. Initially, librarians called out internet search engines,
criticizing them as imperfect and often inaccurate reference tools. But
not for long.
Sure, the public’s willingness to
take an answer rather than the answer was problematic. But immediacy has
its advantages. For many simple questions, patrons could find answers
quickly online. For the tougher questions, librarians soon came to use
search engines at least as a starting point for research. And as the
internet grew more powerful, connections got faster, and Google and
other search engines rapidly improved, online research was embraced by
librarians.
Today, information—once the domain of
libraries, and the provenance of reference librarians—is increasingly
accessible, with answers to a range of questions available at the swipe
of a finger. As we transitioned to a digital world, I, like many
librarians, wondered what such powerful information technology would
mean for librarians in the future. With so much information readily
available, why would anyone need a reference librarian? Read article...
